


Fear of Failure

by JDSampson



Category: Project Blue Book (TV)
Genre: Alternate Scene, Angst, Emotional Hurt, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23056504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JDSampson/pseuds/JDSampson
Summary: Alternate scene from Curse of the Skinwalker when Quinn and Hynek are searching for Rex. Hynek sees a wolf in the woods but Quinn sees something much worse.
Kudos: 35





	Fear of Failure

Fear of Failure: Curse of the Skinwalker Alternate Scene

“Divide and conquer?”

“100 yards apart. Walk a straight line. Every 100 feet shout my name.”

Quinn didn’t like the idea of splitting up in the woods, but he didn’t like the idea of Rex on a murderous rampage either, so split they did.

He moved through the trees, looking for the path of least resistance without straying too far from his straight line. He heard the Doc calling Rex’s name a few times. He never called Quinn’s name. Not even a ‘Captain’ – which was to be expected. Hynek never followed an order in his life, except maybe those given by his wife.

Then again, maybe he misunderstood the direction. Hynek was calling out regularly, so it didn’t really matter if he yelled Captain or Rex or Howdy Doody. As long as Quinn could hear him.

And then he couldn’t.

“Doc?” Quinn stopped and held his breath, listening for a reply.

Nothing.

Not that that was reason to panic. Hynek was the poster child for ‘easily distracted’. When he spotted something he didn’t understand, he dug in deep to the exclusion of all else. Including responding when he was being called. He never seemed to understand that Quinn worried when he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. Worried when he didn’t respond by voice or note or telephone.

“Doc! Answer me!” As loud as he could.

Quinn’s own voice bounced around the tops of the trees then caught a ride on a passing crow.

“What the hell.” Quinn ran forward a dozen yards until he saw enough of a clearing to go left toward the line Hynek was supposed to be following. He came out by a puddle of that bubbly goo – almost stepped in but was nimble enough to change direction at the last second.

Or so he thought. The sudden shift of weight left him off balance. He teetered on his heels and grabbed the closest tree for support as that sweet smell crawled up his nose and waltzed through his head.

He righted himself and kept going. The path in front of him took a sharp turn to the left. That was what happened. Hynek kept following the path and it took him way off course. Quinn would run the next length and find him, probably taking samples from another puddle of goo or dangle from a tree or animal excrement on his shoe.

And there!

Quinn saw the human form out of the corner of his eye and was surprised by the depth of his own relief.

“Doc. Seriously—” The words fell away as a gasp pushed past Quinn’s lips.

It wasn’t Hynek. It wasn’t even human. It was a pseudo scarecrow made of animal pelts and branches.

“Jesus.” Quinn leaned forward, hands on his thighs as he regained the breath he’d lost in the startle. More work of the crazy neighbor. What next?

He stood upright again and debated following the path he was on or doubling back and sticking to the more forward path in his search for Hynek.

The Doc did okay on the ground, but he wasn’t as fit as Quinn. When faced with a clear path and an overgrown one, it was more likely he’d take the easy route, so Quinn continued.

Plus, he wasn’t feeling so well. That smell was making him nauseous and it was a fight to keep his head from spinning off.

Find the doc. Find Rex. Get back to the farmhouse.

One. Two. ---

Quinn was surrounded. More effigies on poles and hanging from the trees. Some more detailed than others. But all looking like victims of the executioner. They were closing in on him. It got so he couldn’t move without squeezing past one or two. The spindly limbs scraping his face as he passed, nearly catching him in the eye while vines did their best to encircle his ankles.

The heavy peacoat was the only thing protecting his arms and legs.

Where the hell was. . . . Doc.

Allen.

Quinn stopped with the arms of two effigies creating a temporary barrier at chest height.

Oh god. Allen.

The effigy in front of him wasn’t made of sticks and debris and animal bones. It was Doctor Allen Hynek – bound to the cross boards in a crucifixion.

“No.” Softly.

“Doc!” Shouting.

Allen’s head was bowed forward, chin to chest and he didn’t move when Quinn called to him.

They did not do this! Crazy neighbor. Aliens. Monster or human. How dare they do this!

Quinn snapped off the arm branches barely blocking his way and ran to the elevated form of his best friend and partner.

“Doc. Talk to me!”

The structure holding him in the ugly pose was a few feet off the ground, forcing Quinn to have to reach up to get his hand under Allen’s chin. He lifted and saw the slightest flicker of motion in the lids.

He was alive.

“Hold on. I’m here. I’m going to get you down.”

Allen continued the lift of his own head and that was when Quinn saw the rope around his neck. A noose, tightening with the weight of Allen’s own body as he slumped forward.

“Bastards.” Quinn cursed and he caught Allen by the chin before it fell to his chest again. “No. No. Don’t do that. Lift your head. Doc. Try!” But there was no try left in him.

Quinn fished his Swiss Army knife out of his pocket. He needed his other hand to open it.

“Fuck. Doc. I’m going to get you down. I have to let go for a second. Hang on. Please.” He lowered his hand allowing Allen’s head loll forward again as gently as possible but as soon as he let go Allen began to choke and fight against all of the bonds that were holding him in place. “Stop! Don’t struggle.”

Quinn plucked the blade from the body of the knife then lifted Allen’s head again. It didn’t help. The final forward movement had tightened the knot on the noose so even the change of angle didn’t relieve the pressure.

Allen was being strangled, slowly and insidiously.

Quinn slipped his knife under the rope, but it was too high up to get a good sawing motion.

He cursed three times in a row as the terror he was feeling on Allen’s behalf began eroding his ability to think straight.

No. Put it aside. Switch it off and go to your training. When time was of the essence you couldn’t afford to let emotions take over.

Think.

Quinn examined the crossbeams jammed into the ground. Could he pull it loose? Probably not with Allen’s full weight and if he were to lose control of the structure, they could both be badly injured.

Think.

Allen’s abductor had gotten him up there somehow.

That’s how.

A small cross beam, like a ledge running across the upright. Allen’s feet were precariously balanced on the beam. It was what had prevented him from being hanged when he was still strong enough to hold himself up.

But now he was held only by the ropes and not his muscles. Quinn pushed Allen’s shoes off the short beam and climbed on. Like stepping on to a pogo stick. This gave him the extra two feet he needed to get a good grip on the rope around the professor’s neck. From this new vantage point, he was able to loosen the knot on the rope enough to give Allen some literal breathing room as he went to work sawing through the fibers.

Quinn’s position was precarious; his body pressed tight to Allen’s. The doc’s cheek on Quinn’s shoulder, ragged breaths in his ear. That was good. Breathing was good. And this close, he could also feel the tremors in Allen’s strained muscles. Signs of life but also signs of deep distress.

Quinn had to fight to stay the course, to not be distracted by his friend’s pain.

No. It was worse than pain. This wasn’t like he’d found him with a broken arm or a cut on his leg. This was torture. This was horrifying to a degree the professor had never witnessed and certainly never thought he’d experience firsthand.

This was how one human being broke another. Monsters. Aliens. Bullshit. Only a human could be this depraved.

“I got ya, doc,” Quinn said softly, fighting to control his voice so it sounded nothing but calming and trustworthy. “Nothing, no body, no thing is going to –” he was going to say ‘hurt you while I’m around’ but that would be a lie. He’d already failed at that.

He. Captain Michael Quinn had failed to protect his partner. His friend. One of the rare people in the world whom he’d opened his heart to. And by extension, Allen’s family – how could he face them if he let Allen die.

‘Mimi. Joel. I’m so sorry. I did my best, but my best wasn’t good enough. I’m not good enough. I failed.’

The noose snapped. With the resistance gone more of Allen’s weight fell against Quinn.

“I’ve got you.” A phrase he kept saying more for his own sake than Allen’s.

Quinn cut through the rope around Allen’s left wrist. Again Allen slumped further forward and this time the weight shift was enough to nearly knock Quinn from his perch.

Think. Think. When he cut the other arm loose, Allen would fall completely into him. If he wasn’t careful, they’d both be sailing toward the ground and fast.

“Michael.” So soft and wheezy, Quinn wasn’t sure he’d actually heard his own name. That combined with the fact that Allen so rarely used it made him continue his work without pause.

He was working left-handed now, which slowed his progress. His right arm was under Allen’s left shoulder, supporting him as he hung on to the cross beam for balance.

“Michael.”

No question this time.

“Save it, Doc. You can jabber at me all you want when I get you down from here.”

“I waited.”

Snap.

With nothing holding him back, Allen Hynek fell completely forward. It was only Michael Quinn being there that kept him from slamming into the ground.

Now. How to let go and drop the two feet without the hard landing?

“I waited,” Allen said again, almost a moan into Quinn’s ear. “But you didn’t come.”

What? No.

“I’m here. I found you. I’ve been looking for you. You stopped calling Rex’s name. You never called my name! I told you to call my name, every 100 feet so I know you’re alright. Why can’t you listen to me?” God damn it. He didn’t want to be angry but time and time again, Hynek put himself in harm’s way when it could have been easily avoided. He was a scientist. Not a solider. What the hell was he even doing out here traipsing through the woods with crazy people and guns. “Please, doc. Allen. I can’t protect you if you won’t let me.”

The weight became too much and Quinn fell – backwards. He landed hard on his back with Allen on top of him. Still he did his best to hang on, cushion the fall with his own body. It didn’t matter if he got hurt as long as the doc was okay.

But as soon as he hit the ground, he felt the shift. Muscles that should have resisted went slack. Air expelled from a body by force. And the way his head snapped back and then forward.

No. Please. Please. Please. Not now. Not after all they’d been through.

With the wind knocked out of him, it took Quinn a minute to sit up. He pulled Allen’s limp body into his lap and saw dead eyes starring back at him.

You failed.

You failed at being a soldier.

You failed at being a friend.

You failed at being a man.

And if you’re already less than a man then tears don’t matter anymore.

Quinn pulled Allen’s lifeless body to his chest and dropped tears into the man’s graying hair. A man he’d resented at first. A man who was a hindrance, a pure buzzing fly annoying him at every turn. A man who came to be more to him than anyone he’d ever known before – including his own father, his commanders, his lovers.

Allen Hynek was the only person in the world who made Quinn feel less alone. And now he was gone.

Failed.

No going back.

Captain Michael Quinn sobbed for the future he had lost.

“Captain?”

The voice was so soft, it barely made it in. Then a hand touched his shoulder.

Quinn startled. He whipped his head around ready for a fight. Ready to give in to whatever it was that was about to challenge him. Why go on at this point?

“Captain! Michael?”

Allen Hynek stooped down beside him, genuine concern in those deep, learned eyes.

“Doc?”

“What’s going on? Are you hurt?”

Quinn looked down at the body in his arms, but it wasn’t flesh and blood. It was sticks and bones and an animal pelt over a stuffed bag of hay.

“Oh my god.” He jumped to his feet, shoving the effigy away as if it was poison. “I thought. I saw.” Quinn turned to the real Hynek, patted his hands over the man’s chest and cupped his bearded face to just to be sure. “You’re real. You’re alive.”

“I believe so,” Allen said. A little worse for the wear though. Mud on his clothes, leaves in his hair.

“I thought.” Quinn motioned toward the stuffed figure as he wavered some on his feet. “I saw. . . “ Oh hell. He threw his arms around Allen, pulling him tight as he had when they were both up on those crossbeams. Only this time, instead of dead weight against him, Quinn felt Allen’s body stiffen, and then tentative arms returned the hug.

“Okay. This is. . . “

“Weird. I know. But you’re alive.” Quinn forced himself to let go and step back. “Jesus Christ, Doc. What is going on out here?” Again he wavered on this feet and Allen caught him by the arm to steady him.

“I don’t know but I’ve seen things, too. We need to get out of these woods.”

Quinn nodded. God, he was tired. “We need to find Rex first. But let’s stick together this time.”

“Agreed,” Allen said, and Quinn could see a reflection of fear in the man’s eyes.

Allen started back the way he had come but Quinn caught him by the arm and turned him back.

“Doc. I will always come for you.”

Confusion then a smile lifted Allen’s lips. “I know.”

Said with such confidence.

Another chance. Quinn had been given another chance to protect his partner. His best friend.

Another chance to fly or fail.

Quinn glanced back at the effigy on the ground for a second, he saw the crumpled figure of Allen Hynek in the shape.

No. Failure was no longer an option.

  
The End.

**Author's Note:**

> I was confused and disapointed by the fact that Quinn kept wavering as if he was effected by the gas in Skinwalker but he didn't have a hallucination in the woods so I gave him one.


End file.
